Spate of Recent Fires Highlight Renters Insurance Awareness Gap

by M.C. Millman

With three fires raging through Boro Park in the last 24 hours and more in the past week, askanim are calling for people to recognize a pattern that needs to be changed, and that is that renters, for the most part, do not have renters insurance. 

"When tragedy strikes, and renters have no insurance, the ensuing fundraising drives place a tremendous burden on the community," Avi Greenstein, BPJCC CEO, tells BoroPark24. 

BoroPark24 reached out to Eli Elias, owner of Indigo Risk Insurance Brokerage, to discuss the importance of renters getting insurance on their property. 

"Most people are just not aware that as a renter, they need to get renters insurance," Elias says. "People assume it's not needed if no one is making it required. When buying a house, the bank won't give the mortgage unless the homeowner gets insurance. In many cases, though, people are unaware that they need it or think it will be too expensive."

While the property owner most certainly has the place insured, that insurance will not cover the renter's property when disaster strikes.

"Homeowners insurance can cost as little as $200-300 a year on average," Elias says. "That's not a lot of money when you think about the actual value."

Furniture, jewelry, clothing, seforim - all of this can be lost in an instant. According to Elias, without homeowner's insurance, a renter can lose upwards of $150,000 in having to replace all of his personal effects. 

Each new fundraiser made for renters who have lost everything but the clothes on their backs should remind the community and, especially renters that it doesn't have to be this way. 

Homeowners insurance, which many still call fire insurance, covers much more than just fires. It also covers windstorms or hail, explosions, damage from vehicles, smoke, vandalism, theft, falling objects, the weight of snow, ice or sleet, water damage, frozen pipes, and more.

"No one wants to regret having reading this article and then doing nothing about it," Elias says. "Fires happen every day, as we've seen too clearly over the past 24 hours. Get home insurance today."

To reach Eli Elias, call 718-781-6428 or 855-575-RISK (7475) or email [email protected], or on whatsapp.